Guy Ellis
The Grove Ridgerunners football team took their third consecutive victory of the 2008 season Friday night with a 27-7 win over rival the Miami Wardogs at Robertson Field on the NEO A&M campus.
The success consolidates the Ridgrunners 4A #2 ranking as the team now moves into District 3 match ups beginning this Friday at Ridgerunner Stadium. Grove will host a Tulsa McLain Titans team that held a #6 4A ranking going into their Friday date with Kansas City East, a team they defeated 59-6 to secure their perfect 2008 record.
In Friday’s contest with Miami the Ridgerunners took advantage of two early Wardog miscues to post a 10-0 lead barely two minutes into the game.
Starting from their own 20 yard line Miami’s first tow snaps saw missed connections from the shotgun formation, the second of which the Wardogs recovered in their own endzone resulting in a safety for Grove.
Grove sophomore Buck Maples returned the ensuing free kick all the way to the Miami one yard line and two plays later quarterback Corey Davenport snuck in for Grove’s first touchdown of the night.
The Ridgerunners elected to go for the two point conversion and Davenport rushed in for the score. It all added up to a Grove 10-0 lead with 10 minutes and 11 seconds still left in the first quarter.
Miami scored their only touchdown of the game midway through the second quarter with a 55-yard drive. The successful PAT cut the Ridgerunner lead to three.
The Wardogs had regained their composure but Grove had never lost theirs and the ensuing Ridgerunner possession saw the team drive 58 yards for another Davenport rushing touchdown. The play came on a 4th and 1 situation from the Miami 14 yard line and saw the quarterback run straight through the gut of the Wardog defense for the score.
Miami tried a rally in the final 1:13 of the half but a Davenport interception ended that threat.
The Ridgerunners scored their final touchdown on the opening drive of the second half. A Davenport kickoff return set Grove up with a first and ten at the 50 yard line. A third and five play from the Miami 45 saw the quarterback connect with senior Dusty Gehrke for a 30 yard reception to the 15 yard line. From there Davenport rushed in for his third touchdown of the game and with the successful T.J. Griffith PAT attempt Grove held a 24-7 lead with 8:01 left in the third.
Two Ridgerunner penalties on the ensuing kickoff let Miami start their drive from the fifty yard line. The Wardogs put together a drive that saw them in a fourth and goal situation from the Grove 9-yard line. Miami went for the touchdown but the end zone pass was broken up by Grove senior Tyler Spychalski.
The Ridgerunners took over possession at their own nine yard line with 4:02 left in the third and began a drive that would stretch into the fourth quarter and ended with a 26 yard field goal from Griffith. Along the way the Ridgerunners worked themselves out of some tight situations courtesy of wide receiver Gehrke. A third and 12 spot from their own seven yard line saw the senior gain a first down and more on an end around rushing play. Later in the drive Gehrke pulled in a thirty five yard reception to put Grove to the Miami 25 yard line.
Still on the same drive, and faced with a fourth and one from the Miami 15 yard line Davenport, and the Grove offensive line, pushed through for a first down to the Wardog eight. Three plays later saw Griffith’s kick and when Miami finally got the ball back the score was 27-7 with just 8:25 left in the game.
Subsequent Miami drives saw Gehrke pull in an interception and junior Weston Culvey recover a Wardog fumble.
GROVE V MIAMI
Grove 27, Miami 7
@Robertson Field
September 19, 2008
1 2 3 4 F
GROVE 10 7 7 3 27
MIAMI 0 7 0 0 7
SEASON RECORDS
GROVE 3-0 MIAMI 1-2
TEAM STATS GRO MIA
RUSHING YARDS 155 139
PASSING YARDS 120 72
TOTAL YARDS 275 211
TURNOVERS 0 4
FIRST DOWNS 13 15
PENALTIES – YARDS 7-63 3-17
GROVE INDIVIDUAL STATS
RUSHING ATT YDS TD
Davenport 29 92 3
Gehrke 4 31
Bartley 7 18
Hudgens 3 16
Maples 2 -2
RECEIVING REC YDS TD
Gehrke 4 78
Hudgens 3 15
Downes 2 23
Davenport 1 4
PASSING CMP ATT YDS TD INT
Davenport 9 18 116 0 0
Griffith 1 1 4 0 0
KICKING PAT ATT FG ATT L
Griffith 2 2 1 1 26
GROVE SEASON TOTALS
TEAM STATS GRO OPP
RUSHING YARDS 817 383
PASSING YARDS 484 333
TOTAL YARDS 1301 716
TURNOVERS 1 12
PENALTIES – YARDS 27-235 13-89
GROVE INDIVIDUAL STATS
RUSHING ATT YDS AVG TD
Davenport 54 365 6.7 5
Maples 27 217 8.0 3
Bartley 11 70 6.3 1
Spychalski 2 17 8.5 1
Hudgens 5 38 7.6 1
Leach 4 31 7.7
Gehrke 5 56 11.2
Phillips 2 16 8
RECEIVING REC YDS AVG TD
Gehrke 13 255 19.6 4
Hudgens 10 156 15.6 0
Downes 5 41 8.2 1
Miller 1 8 8 1
Maples 3 2 1 0
Harding 1 9 9 0
Davenport 1 4 4 0
PASSING CMP ATT YDS TD I
Davenport 33 63 480 6 0
Griffith 1 1 4 0 0
KICKING PAT ATT FG ATT L
Griffith 12 14 2 2 36